Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a wiper blade arrangement having an attachment element that holds a wiper blade, which can be secured on a wiper arm of a windscreen wiper system of a vehicle. The wiper blade can be coupled via the attachment element to at least one channel for washer fluid, which can be introduced from the wiper arm into the attachment element. The attachment element allows relative movement of the wiper blade with respect to the wiper arm. Furthermore, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a connecting arrangement, which comprises such a wiper blade arrangement and a wiper arm of a windscreen wiper system of a vehicle.
German patent document DE 10 2008 021 457 A1 describes a wiper blade that can be secured to a wiper arm of a windscreen wiper system by means of a two-part adaptor. Two connecting lines are provided on the wiper arm side, which are connected to two channels arranged on the upper part of the adaptor, the adaptor, together with the wiper blade, is introduced from the front, so in the longitudinal stretching direction of the wiper arm, into an end region of the wiper arm. The upper part of the adaptor is installed flexibly on a hinge bolt that clamps down onto a lower part of the adaptor. Two channels for washer fluid are also designed at the lower part of the adaptor, which transgresses a spring strip of the wiper blade in a sliding manner, via which lines running along the wiper blade can be loaded with washer fluid. Respective connecting pieces of the channels attached to the upper and lower parts of the adaptor are connected to one another via line sections designed as corrugated tubes. The line sections, which are bypassed externally along respective front faces of the upper and lower parts of the adaptor at these parts, consist of a highly-flexible polymer, for example a thermoplastic elastomer. Due to these line sections that enable length compensation, the lower part of the adaptor can carry out a relative movement with respect to the upper part of the adaptor that is secured to the wiper arm, without this relative movement being hindered by the fixed channels.
PCT patent publication WO 2006/016 006 A1 describes a device for the flexible connection of a wiper blade to a wiper arm, wherein an adaptor is pushed downwards towards a connecting element, which holds spring strip of a wiper blade. During the attaching of the adaptor to a connecting element of the wiper arm, snap-on protrusions lock on to bars, which are arranged on limbs of the connecting element that has a U-shape in its cross section.
German patent document DE 691 01 340 T2 describes a hinge joint between a wiper arm and a wiper blade. In the wiper arm, which has a U-shape in its cross section, an opening for receiving a bolt is provided, which can be displaced along the wiper arm. If the bolt is pushed away from the free end of the wiper arm, i.e. backwards, a receiver provided on the bolt releases a hinge axis, which connects two longitudinal walls of a chuck. The chuck is inserted into an opening, which is designed in a main bracket of the wiper blade, wherein clamps designed on the chuck latch into recesses provided on the main bracket.
German patent document DE 10 2008 049 269 A1 and PCT patent publication WO 2010/034 445 A1, which claims the priority of German patent document DE 10 2008 049 269 A1, also describe a connection of a wiper blade to a wiper arm via an adaptor, which couples the wiper blade to lines for washer fluid, which is fed from the wiper arm into the wiper blade. Also, here, the adaptor, together with the wiper blade, is installed onto this in the longitudinal extension direction of the wiper arm. An adaptor upper part is flexibly connected to an adaptor lower part via a hinge bolt, which is fed through the adaptor lower part. Two tube pieces are arranged on a front face of the adaptor upper part, which receives the washer fluid from the lines running in the adaptor upper part in the longitudinal extension direction of the wiper arm. Both tube pieces feed the washer fluid into two lines running in the longitudinal extension direction of the wiper blade. The tube pieces that are bent downwards have a loop, due to which they can follow a movement of the wiper blade relative to the wiper arm, without tension being exerted onto the lines. The tube pieces are additionally formed from a highly elastic material, such that, despite the lines arranged on the adaptor, the pivoting movement of the adaptor lower part with respect to the adaptor upper part is not hindered.
It is hereby to be regarded as disadvantageous that the lines for the washer fluid are comparatively susceptible to being damaged. In addition, the connection of the adaptor, together with the wiper blade, to the wiper arm is comparatively laborious for an operator.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a particularly robust wiper blade arrangement of the type cited above, as well as a connecting arrangement having such a wiper blade arrangement and a wiper arm, which is particularly simple in its use.
The wiper blade arrangement according to the invention comprises an attachment element, which holds a wiper blade. The attachment element can be secured to a wiper arm of a windscreen wiper system of a vehicle. The wiper blade can be coupled via the attachment element to at least one channel for washer fluid, which can be introduced from the wiper arm into the attachment element. The attachment element is hereby designed in such a way that a relative movement of the wiper blade with respect to the wiper arm is enabled by the attachment element. For this, the attachment element has a rider designed for holding a spring strip of the wiper blade, which comprises a wiper-arm-side upper part and a wiper-blade-side lower part, which are connected to each other via a central part of the rider, which encloses at least one line for the washer fluid, wherein the central part has greater elasticity than the upper part and the lower part of the rider.
Due to the flexible central part with a high level of elasticity, the lower part can move with respect to the upper part and, accordingly, the wiper blade can be adapted to the course of the windscreen surface during the wiping of the screen, which is typically spherically curved. Due to the fact that the central part encloses the at least one line, which can be coupled to the wiper-arm-side channel for the washer fluid, particularly good protection of the at least one line is provided. Thus, a particularly robust wiper blade arrangement is created. The at least one wiper-blade-side channel for the washer fluid, which is installed fixedly in the region of the wiper arm, can be decoupled from the pivoting movements of the wiper blade by the provision of the central part holding the upper part at a distance to the lower part. The flexible central part having greater elasticity than the upper part and lower part thus does not receive the relative movement between the wiper arm and wiper blade in the same way as a hinge joint connecting the upper part to the lower part.
Due to the fact that the abrasion-susceptible central part, which allows the relative movement between wiper arm and wiper blade, is part of the attachment element, this is also exchanged during the exchange of the wiper blade together with the attachment element. It can thus be ensured that the relative movement between wiper blade and wiper arm remains smooth.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the attachment element can be secured to the wiper arm via a framework element, which is brought into contact with at least two opposite external sides of the upper part. Such a framework element enables a particularly good transfer of forces during the movement of the wiper arm towards the wiper blade. If the framework element completely encloses the upper part on the external peripheral side, a particularly secure fitting of the upper part to the framework element, and thus particularly good force transmission from the wiper arm into the attachment element, is provided.
It has hereby been proven to be advantageous if the framework element is installed on a rotational axis designed on the lower part. Thus, the framework element can transfer forces from the fixed upper part to the fixed lower part, without these forces having to be transferred via the elastic central part. Accordingly, the central part can have a particularly high level of elasticity, since the force-transmitting connection of the upper part to the lower part is effected by the framework element.
It is preferred for the attachment element to be able to be installed onto the wiper arm in an installation direction, which runs at right angles to a wiping surface that can be defined by the wiping movement of the wiper blade. Such an installation of the attachment element to the wiper arm can be carried out particularly simply by an operator and can be determined intuitively particularly well. Thus, a particularly high level of safety from defective installation is provided. At the same time, the transfer of washer fluid from the wiper-arm-side channel into the attachment element, and from there into the wiper blade, can take place via the attachment element as soon as this has been secured to the wiper arm in the installation direction.
Since a contact pressure acts on the wiper arm in the wiper blade located on the screen of the vehicle, which presses the wiper blade against the screen, the attachment element that can be installed onto the wiper arm in the installation direction perpendicular to the wiping surface can be moved, and with this, the wiper blade can also be moved securely over the screen by means of the wiper arm, as soon as the wiper arm charges the attachment element with the contact pressure in the installation direction.
In order to achieve a particularly secure fixing of the attachment element to the wiper arm, provision can be made according to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention for the attachment element to have at least one projection protruding above a side wall of the same, which can be inserted into a recess on the wiper arm that is open in the installation direction during installation onto the wiper arm.
Additionally or alternatively, the attachment element can have at least one guide element, which is guided on a wiper-arm-side guide element during installation onto the wiper arm. This facilitates the installation of the attachment element onto the wiper arm. A particularly simple installation of the attachment element onto the wiper arm or a removal of the attachment element from the same can be achieved if the guide elements have a lead-in chamfer.
Such guide elements, which in particular have lead-in chamfers, can be provided on both side walls of the attachment element. Alternatively, the attachment element can have a guide element on only one side wall, which corresponds to the wiper-arm-side guide, such that a permutation protection is provided. Then the attachment element can only be installed onto the corresponding wiper arm, for example a passenger-side wiper blade onto a passenger-side wiper arm and a driver-side wiper blade onto a driver-side wiper arm. If, on the wiper arm, there is no wiper-arm-side guide corresponding to the wiper-blade-side guide element, the wiper arm prevents the connection of the attachment element to the same, and the operator will notice the attempt to installed the wiper blade on the wiper arm that is not provided for this.
It has been proven to be further advantageous if the attachment element has at least one electrical plug connector, which can be connected to the wiper arm with a wiper-arm-side electrical connection during the connection of the attachment element. In this way, during the connection of the attachment element, both the coupling to the channel that guides the washer fluid and the electrical connection can be ensured. The electrical plug connector also provides for the attachment element being able to be heated, such that, by inserting thermal heat into the attachment element, the elasticity of the central part can be ensured even at low ambient temperatures.
Additionally, the electrical plug connector of the attachment element is preferably coupled to a wiper-blade-side electrical heat conductor, such that the wiper blade can also be charged with heat energy. This is advantageous for preventing the wiper blade from being frozen to the screen of the vehicle. Moreover, the washer fluid applied to the screen by the wiper blade can be heated. In this way, the screen can be de-iced. In addition, even at low temperatures, washer fluid discharge from the wiper blade can be ensured.
The connecting arrangement according to the invention comprises a wiper blade arrangement according to the connection and a wiper arm of a windscreen wiper system of a vehicle. Here, a slider arranged on the wiper arm is provided for the fixed holding of the attachment element on the wiper arm, which can be displaced along the wiper arm from an installation position into a functional position securing the attachment element. However, in the installation position, the attachment element can be released from the wiper arm. Such a connecting arrangement can be used particularly simply, since, for installation the attachment element onto the wiper arm, the attachment element, together with the wiper blade, does not need to be moved from the installation position into the functional position. In fact, the attachment element remains in its installation position and only the slider is moved along the wiper arm, so as to secure the attachment element from self-releasing from the wiper arm. This considerably facilitates the use of the wiper blade arrangement during installation onto the wiper arm or during removal from the wiper arm.
It is preferred for at least one display to be provided on the wiper arm, by means of which a passing of the slider into the functional position and/or the installation position can be displayed to an operator. Thus, it can be ascertained by the operator in a particularly simple manner whether the slider is located in the functional position, in which it secures the attachment element, or not. The display can be designed as a symbol and/or as an aperture in the wiper arm, which is/are covered or released during the movement of the slider. Additionally or alternatively, a character can be provided, which refers to the movement of the slider into the functional position or closing position that is to take place, if the slider is still located in the installation position.
It is furthermore advantageous if the wiper arm has at least one latching notch, which, in the functional position and/or the installation position of the slider, engages with a latching nose arranged on the slider. The locking of the latching nose in the latching notch can be determined optically, aurally and sensitively. In this way, it can be confirmed to the operator that the slider is located in the functional position or the installation position. It is particularly advantageous if one and the same latching nose is engaged in the functional position with a first latching notch and with a second latching notch in the installation position. Alternatively, however, only one latching notch can be provided, which is allocated to one of the two positions. Also, the wiper arm and the slider can have the latching nose and the latching notches respectively.
It has furthermore been proven to be advantageous if the slider has a back and two limbs, wherein at least one projection that encompasses the wiper arm from below and/or secures the attachment element in the functional position of the slider is arranged on the limbs of the slider. If projections encompass the wiper arm from below, impact protection is provided by the slider when the wiper arm impacts onto the screen without the wiper blade installed thereon, for example due to inattention by the operator after the wiper blade has been removed from the wiper arm. Such impact protection is in particular then particularly effective if the wiper arm is formed from a metal and the slider is formed from a flexible material, for example a polymer. Additionally, particularly good guiding of the slider along the wiper arm is guaranteed by the slider that encompasses the wiper arm from below.
The projections on the limbs of the slider can secure the attachment element in the functional position of the slider, while projections provided on the attachment element, for example bar studs, abut on the projections in the functional position of the slider, which are separated from the limbs of the slider.
In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the connecting arrangement comprises a connecting element, which comprises the at least one wiper-arm-side channel for the washer fluid, and which can be locked on to the wiper arm. In this way, it can be ensured that the connecting element is also held securely to the wiper arm after the attachment element has been released from the wiper arm.
At the same time, a wiper-arm-side electrical connection is preferably provided by the connecting element. Then both the supply of washer fluid in the wiper blade and of electrical energy for heating the wiper blade and/or washer fluid can take place via the connecting element.
It is hereby advantageous if the slider can be locked on to the connecting element by a movement into the functional position. Then the slider, in its functional position, serves to fix the connecting element.
At least one electrical heat conductor can be arranged on the connecting element, by means of which the washer fluid can be heated in the region of the wiper arm. Thus, the washer fluid can already be heated on its way along the wiper arm, so before it has reached the attachment element.
If the connecting element comprises a wiper-arm-side electrical connection for the electrical heat conductor installed in the wiper blade, the washer fluid can be heated both on the way to the attachment element and from the attachment element to wiper-blade-side outlets.
Finally, it has indeed been proven to be advantageous if the slider and/or wiper arm has a recess, which is designed to receive a component of the wiper blade during a movement of the wiper blade relative to the wiper arm. In this way, the slider and the wiper arm can be closed to a particularly great extent in an optically and acoustically advantageous manner, and the relative movement of the wiper blade with respect to the wiper arm is still enabled by the recesses.
The features and combinations of features specified in the description above and the features and combinations of features specified in the description of the figures and/or in the figures only below can be used not only in the combination specified in each case, but also in other combinations or on their own without exceeding the scope of the invention.